It is good to be filled with thanksgiving and to see the praise and worship of the Lord coming forth in our midst. Some Thanksgiving reading from the Scripture, upon which you might like to meditate, are found in the Psalms. Let me give you my favorites.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: give thanks unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his lovingkindness endureth for ever, and his faithfulness unto all generations. Psalm 100.
Now we shall read Psalm 107, which opens up the last book of the Psalms. Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his lovingkindess endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the adversary, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way; they found no city of habitation. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses, he led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his lovingkindness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and the hungry soul he filleth with good.
Such as sat in darkness and the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High: therefore he brought down their heart with labor; they fell down and there was none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bonds in sunder. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his lovingkindness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of food; and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sendeth his word, and healeth them, and delivereth them from their destructions. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his lovingkindness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with singing. Psalm 107:1–22.
I like this kind of passage. It is one thing on Thanksgiving to thank God because you have a turkey in the oven and the bills are paid. It is quite another thing to be an ex-fool who thanks God that He delivered you out of all of your problems.
We were as those who wandered in the wilderness, who sat in darkness, in the shadow of death. God broke the bonds; He snapped open the gates and let us go free. That is what Thanksgiving should be all about, that God took us in our terrible unworthiness, and made us accepted in the Beloved. The temporal and material things we should be grateful for too, but we should be really thankful for spiritual things.
There are times our spirits are heavy because of the dealings of the Lord upon our hearts. We find ourselves weeping before the Lord, seeking His face, disgusted with many things in our lives, anxious to break through into new levels of victory which God has for us. We wonder how we can enter into the victory of the Lord that belongs on this new plane which God has introduced to us, but let us press on. Here are some Scriptures that will help us.
I Thessalonians 5:16, 17: Rejoice always. (These short Scriptures are really effective!) Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. We have periods in which we find it almost impossible to rejoice. Often our circumstances cause us to think, “ ‘In everything give thanks’? Lately, there have been a number of things for which I’m not too thankful.” But there is a phony expression which comics use when someone slaps them or treats them roughly. They say, “I needed that!” And the truth of the matter is that God has a similar way of dealing with us.
I know the objectives of the ministry, of the Walk, of the remnant, of the restoration are unaltering. Those are not in question; rather it is our attitude as we walk along. We need to aggressively press in, but we need also to have that sanctified, holy attitude of thanksgiving and rejoicing as we do.
We are facing days of persecution. Will we rejoice and be exceedingly glad in days when things are stripped from us? The advantages that the world offers will go to its own children, not to the children of God. Many things of misunderstanding, persecution will come your way. Will you be thankful at that time? Will you be able to say, “Yes, Lord, I’m grateful for this happening to me”? God may order it. It may not be the world out there which persecutes you, but it may be God who brings about certain reverses in your life. I have been thinking seriously about this.
While looking in the book of James, the Lord showed a principle there. But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings. James 1:9–11. This is God’s way of doing things.
Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment. James 3:1. I see an underlying principle in all that James says. The Lord has a way of taking a man who has money and stripping him down. And He has a way of taking a man who has nothing and bringing to him the true values and true riches of life. Why does God do this? Why does God compensate this way? Why does He take the part in the Body of Christ that lacketh and give it more abundant honor (I Corinthians 12:24)? Why does He heap upon that which does not have anything to glory in? Why does He take the proud and bring them low? Why does He take such a delight in the humble and exalt them? And the man who is sufficient and doing well, why does God allow him to be bedeviled with one problem after another? It is a principle difficult to understand, but it answers why we are to give thanks in everything.
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God… Only God can understand the deep arrogance of the human heart, what possessions do to a person, and what the lack of everything can do to him. It is strange that having nothing causes you to almost draw apart from your brothers and sisters; and having more than they do causes you to stand aloof from your brothers and sisters and be almost condescending. God has to find some way of making those who are self-sufficient utterly dependent upon Him, and those who are crushed and broken He lifts up and lets them feel His presence and their identity. God must do this. God must take a person and teach him humility and then teach him the dignity of being a child of God. These two lessons must be learned, and they are not learned until God reverses the state or conditions in your life. You go through something that changes your sense of values. If there is something you value more than anything else in the world—nothing, in your mind, is worth more than that one thing—watch how God will change that for you. Watch how you go through it. You may think, “This is a torment from God, not a blessing.”
God is concerned about His ultimate plan and purpose for your life, the ultimate relationship that you are to have with Him. If He has to break your heart, He will do it. There is no way to understand (I am using an illustration now) the state of our economy. There is no explanation for the shortages; we have plenty, yet suddenly the shortages occur here and there. It is God troubling us.
I am glad it is coming this way. What if God really took it all away and the shortages were real? He is giving us a chance to go through them, for it is almost like becoming inoculated, like having a case of the disease in order to develop immunity.
What a lesson America could learn right now. How she could say, “We were the affluent society, but God is humbling us. God is showing what it is like to do without, and we shall humble ourselves before the Lord and give thanks to Him for all of His benefits and stop going on our way.” Maybe she will, but I doubt it. I think God will have to get a little rougher with us first. The belts will have to be tightened a lot more before we learn the humility that God is trying to teach us.
These things God is doing not only on a national scale, He is doing it to you. There is probably no explanation for what you are going through. Stop and think of some things to which God has subjected you. Is He trying to teach you something? Is He trying to teach you to rejoice always, in everything to give thanks? Would you be grateful and thankful if you were to go home and take a few sticks to build a fire, to take some ground corn and make cornbread or something to survive with? If you were to sit down to a very, very humble meal, would you be grateful? Would you be thankful that you are a part of the remnant? Would you be thankful that God has chosen you and raised you up, even though the plenty was not there? Those who have had more of this world’s goods, would you be able to praise God if you knew you did not have anything in reserve but just the gasoline in the tank, just the food on the table, no money and no way of buying anything more? Would you sit down at the table with thanksgiving and give praise to the Lord?
What kind of reserves are we looking for? Let me tell you. God has a way of leveling things, a way of compensation. Do not try to hang onto things. Jesus told His disciples, “You must leave all.” Why? Because if you do, you position yourself where God can give you everything. He will compensate.
When He sent out the disciples, He said, “Take nothing extra—just the clothes on your back. Go out and trust Me; see what I will do for you.” They came back and said, “The devils were cast out! We healed the sick. Everything was there.” When you become able to let go of your crutches, let go of that scaffolding and say, “Lord, it’s Yours. I’m going to learn how to walk just with God,” a compensation will come. Do not worry if you do not have much, because you have everything. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Psalm 37:16. He has little, but God has a way of compensating.
“I don’t have two pairs of shoes,” you say. All right, you have one pair. Maybe you have none. But it is all right, because you will be able to prophesy and you will walk in the company of prophets. You will be able to see signs and wonders and exploits. Oh, fear not, little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure … (Luke 12:32). Oh, He has taken the poor of this world and made them rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised them (James 2:5). Is that enough? Can it be enough?
In the days ahead we will read the gospels with a different slant. We will not look upon them as being for a generation afar off, but we will realize that all the things which happened in them uncovered principles important to us. This body of people represent some of the wealthiest people, because you have found the pearl of great price.
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Rejoice, for you are getting something that no one can take from you. Inflation cannot make it worthless, thieves cannot steal it, it won’t rust, moths won’t eat it. It is very valuable. You are receiving the treasures of the Kingdom (Luke 12:33). What a privilege to be accepted in the Lord, to be His people, for Him to look upon you, to smile upon you. You are in line to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joys that are prepared for you”(Matthew 25:21).
Can you know what it will be like to walk with God through these troubled times? Do not be guilty of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Why did God care what they did with their property? They violated a principle. When God laid something on their hearts, they still said, “This will be my riches, this will be my security, this is what I shall trust in. I’ll not trust in the word of the Lord; I’ll trust in this nest egg, in this little reserve I can lay aside.” This violated the whole principle of what it meant to be a disciple.
A disciple is willing to lose everything from the world’s viewpoint, to gain everything from God’s viewpoint and to gain nothing from the world’s viewpoint. He has different standards. You will either serve God or you will serve mammon, and cleave to the thing that is corrupt and passing away. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. I John 2:16–17.
Can we learn to hold everything loosely, and if God says, “I want it,” to say, “It’s Yours. It is nothing,” and let God heap upon us the true riches?
“Now,” you may be thinking, “he will have us going out and selling all that we have.” That is the principle behind Matthew 19:16–22. The rich young ruler came, asking the Lord, “What do I do to inherit eternal life?” You see, he wanted to get the real, valuable thing: eternal life. He knew he could attain it.
“Why go sell what we have and give to the poor? We give to the Red Cross and to Community Chest. Doesn’t that give us eternal life?”
Never.
“Because we give to the poor do we inherit eternal life?”
God will bless you for giving to the poor, I am sure, but that is not the thing. This is not a social gospel. Go, sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor. Why? Because you have to have a change of standards.
“But I’ll die. I won’t have anything to protect me. I’m giving away all my security.” If you think that, hang onto it, because there has to be something done in your heart. You can honestly come to a stewardship where you say, “All I have is the Lord’s.” But the first time someone steals some of it and you grieve, know that you didn’t really give it to the Lord. The first time the Lord takes some of it and you cry about it, it wasn’t really the Lord’s, was it? It was in your heart. When you can say, “Yes, Lord, I’m a steward. It is all Yours. Here it is, anytime, anyway You want it,” you are showing God, “I’ve changed; I have a different set of values. I know I can’t serve God and mammon. I’m serving God.” For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:21. Reach out and say, “Let me go through this change. Let God be everything to me.” That is all He is after. In everything give thanks.
In the light of this message you have more to be thankful for than you realize. The dealings of the Lord that have brought you thus far are precious, deep dealings which are circumcising the heart, cutting out the love of other things so that only the love of God survives, that alone. In everything give thanks.
Who can understand the Lord? He has a plan beyond our understanding. He does good to us in such a left-handed way that sometimes it looks as if He is trying to destroy us. When He wants to work a miracle He does a cruel and inhuman thing: He takes away some little boy’s lunch, his little loaves and fishes. Can’t you hear some of the Pharisees rising up in the front row, “Huh, you’re supposed to be the Messiah. Look, you just took that kid’s lunch.” But before He is through, everyone will have plenty.
God has such a way. He sends old prophet Elijah down from the mountain and tells him, “There’s a widow down there, and I’ve commanded her to feed you” (I Kings 17:8). But why didn’t He tell the widow? Elijah comes down and says, “Make me a little cake.” She says, “I have only enough oil and flour to make my son and me one, and then we are going to die.”
“Make me one first.”
She had to decide that beyond the life of her son and herself, she would take care of the man of God.
God has His way. Sometimes He moves upon you and says, “Be thankful now. Rejoice.”
“I’m busy rubbing the bumps.”
Yes, whom the Lord loves, He chastens. Do not faint when you are rebuked of Him. He scourges every son whom He receives (Hebrews 12:5, 6). We must say, “Lord, whatever You are doing in my life, keep on doing it until You have performed it unto the day of the Lord” (Philippians 1:6).
I watch some projects that seemingly have had all the reverses and failures, and one thing I’m aware of: the money isn’t the important thing; it is what God has done in the hearts of the people as a result. We learned to walk with God with what appeared to be failures. Do you think that is what God had in mind? After He has made us successful in walking with Him all these other things will be added. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33. God can turn away failure in an instant, but He will not do it as long as there is covetousness, ambition, pride, rebellion, and arrogance in the hearts of any of the principals involved. He scourges us and brings us down. It will be with a right spirit and with complete dedication to His will that we walk in the blessings of the Lord.
“Be not many teachers, knowing that you shall have the greater judgment” (James 3:1). The greater the ministry God has called you to fulfill, the more unreasonable on a human level will be God’s dealings with you. He will not let you get by with anything. He will not fail, nor will He let up until the thing is really accomplished. He is the Rock; fall on Him and you will be broken. That is good—but if He falls on you, you will be ground to powder (Matthew 21:43, 44). He is not going to stop, nor will you be able to stop somewhere at a little side station and say, “Lord, now that’s all I want. Just start blessing me now; let me enjoy a little peace and prosperity.” There is no discharge in this warfare (Ecclesiastes 8:8).
Do you want to be a teacher? You will come under heavier judgments in the days to come, but you will also come under heavy dealings now. I think some of you feel so miserable. “Oh, I wish I could be a preacher or a pastor. I don’t know why I’m sitting here.” Thank God for little favors! If He calls you, accept and rejoice in it. If He puts you down and lets you serve in another capacity, rejoice in that. Go through these dealings just the same, and accept them.
“But I wanted to be a teacher, and I am doing only a few things here and there.”
It is all right. If you were a teacher you would be under heavier judgment, heavier dealings.
Sometimes people do not really grasp the significance of what I say until later. They can listen to a tape that is ten years old and it sounds like something that is to be preached tomorrow, because these are principles which God is using to level all of us and bring us into the oneness of the Body. These are dealings to eliminate the distinctiveness, the individuality and let us flow as one Body before the face of the Lord—no little prejudices, no secret ambition, nothing rising up to spoil the whole thing in the Body.
And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. II Corinthians 12:7–10.
Can you think that way? If Paul were here in the middle of being afflicted with that thorn in the flesh, that messenger from Satan, do you think he would give thanks to God today? Yes, he would give praise to the Lord for it, because he learned the importance of not being exalted above that which is written (I Corinthians 4:6).
Most of you are aware of the battles I am in, and you have deep compassion for me. You acknowledge with submission what I tell you, and I pray carefully over it. I would not move otherwise. The times have become such a burden; there are so many things laid before us that you want to know. It would be very easy for human nature to see pride in others and be just proud enough to think, “It will never happen to me.” For that very reason, I know I could have felt that I am a privileged individual because others defer to me. But preventing it is the same thing Paul had: I have had a messenger from Satan to buffet me, a thorn in the flesh. I have been under this kind of dealings for many years. You have prayed, and God has never said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you.” He has always indicated that He will remove it, but He didn’t say when. It has been one of the finest things that ever happened to me.
Today, after seeking the face of the Lord, out of much weakness, demonic harassment and witchcraft attacks against me, His power is being perfected. What is the purpose of this? I assure you, do not worry about this thing of humility. God has a way of bringing a person down with such weakness that he utterly depends upon the Lord, and he is not allowed to feel that he is a privileged individual. How truly God worked this in me.
When I first started into this Walk, I wanted some kind of security. I had been raised in the Depression, and we worked hard for even the necessities of life. We learned to be exact in the way we choked life to make it give up things we needed. Then when things could have been better, as a family we made each dollar do unbelievable things in order to stay in the ministry and do what God wanted. Then we came into the Walk, and we had to walk through a rough period of sacrifice. We printed ten thousand copies of the First Principles in Spanish, and about ten thousand copies in English. I paid for every one of them. My wife and daughters went without. Facing constant physical jeopardy and demonic assault, I couldn’t afford life insurance. But I figured what those books should be worth, and I gave instructions that if something should happen to me in the days to come, the family could sell them a few at a time and have something to help. I was hanging on, looking for some way of finding security.
What happened to those First Principles? The Spanish edition went down to Texas and everyplace else—a brother gave them away. They were scattered everywhere! The English edition was sold, and I never even got back the money for the paper I bought by sacrifice. That taught me a lesson. Whosoever would save his life shall lose it… Luke 9:24. I began to learn what it was to let go of it.
There will be no true riches, the Word will be shut off, there will be no treasure in the Word if we hang onto security. Let it go! Do not look for the security of this world. Look for the one thing really worthwhile. Labor for the meat that does not perish (John 6:27). Keep in there, giving the hours of labors, giving yourself.
“Well,” you say, “we are going to be old before our time.”
Ah, the manifestation of the sons of God is coming; you will be set from that time on. We are moving into it. What if we don’t make it? Well, we are in the days of the first resurrection. You will hardly be cold before you will be out of the grave again! It is not a time to save your life; it is a time to rejoice in the Lord.
“But I’m so defeated. Even though there were prophecies over me years ago, I wonder if God can use me.” Do not throw them away; those prophecies are not set aside as far as I’m concerned, and I’ll tell you why. Perhaps if God had fulfilled those prophecies any other time you would have been arrogant. Perhaps God has been scourging you so you will cooperate with Him. When God and you wrestle at it long enough, you will limp into the new day, a prince of God.